The winter holiday near miss thread
Discussion
Yesterday I returned from our annual family trip to Whistler in Canada and a great time was had by all. I even got to spend the day with fellow PH member "Whoozit" who was also in town. Good technique by the way Whoozit
Anyway the point of this thread is that as much as I love snowboarding things can go wrong very quickly.
On new years day we had a major dump so I headed off to the Jersey Cream chair on my own as the family were in ski school where I had spent the previous day slashing the powder that everyone had seemed to have ignored in the trees. Anyway the first run was mega so I went straight back up to try another line and this is when things went wrong. I jumped off the lift and headed down the blue run that leads to the tree run that are all black diamond. The visibility was a bit naff but as I had made this run many times before I was not bothered.
Just before I entered the trees I was distracted by someone skiing across me. I then hit an unseen bump and was thrown forward. I skidded for a few yard then fell head first in to a huge rock well. If you have ever skied you will have seen these formations where a deep moat will form around a rock of a tree.
Anyway as I said I fell head first into this thing I was then suspended upside down by my board as it bridged the gap between the snow and the rock. My immediate fear was that the snow would collapse and bury me alive. I tried to unbuckle myself but my only accessible binding was buried in the snow. At this point I started to worry as I was getting very tired, I could not move and it was snowing hard. So I did the only thing I could do and that was scream like a little girl for help. Thankfully after 20 mins a young Japanese skier heard me and came to my aid. After a major effort they managed to undue my board and I climbed out. To say I was grateful would be a major understatement.
So folks enjoy you winter holidays but be careful. I have been boarding for 18 years and am very confident in nearly all situations on the mountain, this incident happened only 20 yards from the piste
Anyway the point of this thread is that as much as I love snowboarding things can go wrong very quickly.
On new years day we had a major dump so I headed off to the Jersey Cream chair on my own as the family were in ski school where I had spent the previous day slashing the powder that everyone had seemed to have ignored in the trees. Anyway the first run was mega so I went straight back up to try another line and this is when things went wrong. I jumped off the lift and headed down the blue run that leads to the tree run that are all black diamond. The visibility was a bit naff but as I had made this run many times before I was not bothered.
Just before I entered the trees I was distracted by someone skiing across me. I then hit an unseen bump and was thrown forward. I skidded for a few yard then fell head first in to a huge rock well. If you have ever skied you will have seen these formations where a deep moat will form around a rock of a tree.
Anyway as I said I fell head first into this thing I was then suspended upside down by my board as it bridged the gap between the snow and the rock. My immediate fear was that the snow would collapse and bury me alive. I tried to unbuckle myself but my only accessible binding was buried in the snow. At this point I started to worry as I was getting very tired, I could not move and it was snowing hard. So I did the only thing I could do and that was scream like a little girl for help. Thankfully after 20 mins a young Japanese skier heard me and came to my aid. After a major effort they managed to undue my board and I climbed out. To say I was grateful would be a major understatement.
So folks enjoy you winter holidays but be careful. I have been boarding for 18 years and am very confident in nearly all situations on the mountain, this incident happened only 20 yards from the piste
Edited by Streetrod on Tuesday 5th January 13:59
Technically you are right, I was outside the piste markers, but this was only by a few yards and you have to take this route to get to the marked runs of Blowdown, Staircase and The Bite. The entrance gate to these runs is also outside the markers. The whole of the Jersey Cream bowl is inbounds but a lot of it is off piste and is visible from the piste and the lifts. I would have loved to have had some mates around but this was a family holiday and the kids and other half were in ski school so I was on my own.
It was a freak accident and at the time I did not think I was taking any major risks. I just wanted to post this as a warning
It was a freak accident and at the time I did not think I was taking any major risks. I just wanted to post this as a warning
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